Apparatus for burning peat.



No. 645,226. Patented Mar. I3, |900.

' G. GERCKE.

APPARATUS FOR BURNING PEAT.

(Application led July 18, 1899.) N o M o d el 'llllllllll f [Ill/IJl/llI/IllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllIllIIIlIIIIl/lllllIlI/Illl IIIII WEZ-n eases: i151 ve nar Geary Gerc/e y im UNITED STATES PATENT EErcE.

GEORG GERCKE, OF HAMBURG, GERMANY.

APPARATUS FOR BURNING PlEAT.v

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 645,226, dated March 13, 1900. Application filed .Tuly 18,1899. Serial Nb. 724.281. (No model.)

To roZ 107mm, t may concern: 'Be it known that I, GEORG GERCKE, merchant, a subject of the King of Prussia, German Emperor, residing at Reissmiihle No. 9, Hamburg, Empire of Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Burning Peat or for Torrefyin g or Drying other Water-Containing Materials, of which the following is a full description.

Frequent attempts have been made to utilize peat by removing the water which it contains in order to obtain the dry substance for fuel and render it transportable. Although the raw product is very cheap, processes employed heretofore have not met with much success, because the treatment of the peat was too expensive, chiefly in consequence of its.

high percentage of water, which often reaches eighty-eight per cent. l

The object of the present invention is to provide a means or apparatus for utilizing the peat fuel on the spot by using it directly for industrial purposes. l

It consists in placing the peat in an apparatus wherein its watery contents are trans'- formed into steam, which is used for driving machinery, and the remaining pith or dry substance used as fuel for heating .the said apparatus. The condensation products of the steam also serve an economy in their valuable chemical contents, which can be extracted and used for various purposes.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood, reference willY be had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l represents a central longitudinal section through the preferred form of the peatburning apparatus, and Fig. 2 a cross-section through the same.

Reference being had to the drawings, it will be seen that the apparatus has the general form of a horizontal boiler and consists of an outer casing j' and a number of tubes e, extending parallel with one another nearly the length of the apparatus and in an oblique direction at the front wall kof the drier, where they form the channels d in the cast-iron body Said cast-iron body d/ has a cone-shaped cavity to receive a funnel c, having a longitudinal slot b, with which said channels d are adapted to separately register. Said funnel has a contracted throat or bore a, in which is adapted to reciprocate a plunger s.

A combustion-chamber g is provided in the lower rear part of the apparatus, the heatingchamber being defined by walls Ik. Two partitions h h, one of which extends nearly to the top ofthe heating-chamber and the other from the top nearly to the bottom, divide said chambers into three sections Z Y X. Aliue z' in section X serves to convey away the gases of combustion. n

A shaft p is journaled in bearings in the rear chamber formed by wall l and carries a rotary knife or cutter q, contiguous the outlets of tubes e, and said shaft is turned by a crank r or other suitable means manually operated or receiving motion from a prime mo= tor source, which utilizes the steam generated in the apparatus. 'A rotary feeder n o is located in the base of rsaid chamber and receives motion from a bell-pulley or` other suitable means. K

In carrying the invention into practice the raw peat is fed to the4 funnel c in any suitable manner and forced through the slot b into and through the tubes e. The channels d are so arranged that one of them is always in register with the slot and the material cannot, as it would tend to do, choose the passage most convenient for it. At the same time by the single charging ofeach channel the pressing in of the peat is facilitated, and this may afterward be done automatically by any suitable y means worked by the steam, which is being constantly generated by the apparatus. The funnel is so arranged that itis turned after each stroke of the pressstamper s, so that the next channel ol can be charged, and so on. After all the tubes e are charged with peat the evaporator is heated at g. The fire-gases, as indicated by arrows in the drawings, envelop the tubes e and are caused in the known manner by the walls h to deliver their heat as completely as possible to the tubes before they escape through the chimney i'. By using two of such walls the rear chamber X acts as a preliminary heater, the middle part Y as the real steam-developing chamber, and the front part Z as a superheater for the steam, while at the same time the peat, which is bein'g continually introduced, cools the tu bes. The peat as it passes through the tubes c is freed from its percentage of moisture, which escapes as steam into the chamber mand from there to-any suitable container, Where any chemical substance of. value can be recovered and the steam usedV for power purposes to operate the machine. The dried peat as it issues from the termini of the tube ends is sheared by the rotary cutter q into strips of uniform length, which fall upon the inclined bottom n and are fed continuously to the grate in the combustionchamber, making a splendid fuel.

Having now particularly described my invention, what I claim isl. In an apparatus for burning peat, the combination of an outer casing having a'feeding endand a discharge end, a combustionchamber arranged below the discharge end and extended horizontally therefrom to near the feeding end, said combustion-chamberbe'- ing divided to form a tortuous passage for gases of combustion, a plurality of parallel tubes traversing said combustion-chamber, a revoluble feeding-hopperhaving a slot, means vfor forcing the raw peat through said tubes,

a rotary cutter contiguousthe termini of said tubes, an automatic device for feeding the dry peat to the combustion-chamber and an outlet for the steam generated from the moisture in the peat, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

' said combustion-chamber into drying-chambers X, Y, Z, an upper passage connecting chamber Z with chamber Y and a lower passage connecting the latter chamber with cham ber X and a chimney/L' leading from said last chamber; a plurality of parallel tubes traversing said chambers, the casing d having a conical cavity, the obliquely-extended channels d` forming continuations of said tubes; a revoluble feeding-hopper mounted in said cavity, having a lateral slot, a plunger adapted to reciprocate in said hopper to force the peat forward in the tubes, a rotary cutter q contiguous the termini of said tubes, adapted to shear the dried peat as it is discharged from said tubes,` the fuel-feeding device o and an outlet for the steam generated from the moisture in the peat, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presencer of two witnesses.

` GEORG GERCKE.

Vitnesses: l

E. H. L. MUMMENHOFF, OTTO W. l-IELLMINK 

